DEFEAT at Vicarage Road last Saturday, the fifth in seven visits there since 2000, did not help City's relegation survival hopes but it was slightly less traumatic than the events of Tuesday evening.

Watching the thrilling Champions League clash between Liverpool and Arsenal should have been a pleasure but I had one eye on page 318 of Teletext as I attempted to stay in touch with events at Bramall Lane and Bloomfield Road.

With 20 minutes remaining, Sheffield Wednesday were leading 2-0 in the Steel City derby and Blackpool were beating West Brom 1-0.

If the scores had stayed that way Blackpool would have moved to 53 points and been virtually safe and the Owls would have leapfogged Sky Blues on to 50.

It was a nail-biting few minutes but fortunately the Baggies won 3-1 and the Blades recovered to draw 2-2 and the Sky Blues remained in 18th place, one point ahead of the Owls and only one behind the Seasiders.

Then on Wednesday night Barnsley travelled to Watford and depressed all City fans by pulling off the victory that we should have been celebrating on Saturday.

Results in this division this season no longer surprise me, and relegationthreatened Barnsley winning 3-0 away to a side who would have gone top if they won barely caused any ripples.

There are more vital fixtures this weekend with City having one of the toughest games against Stoke but Barnsley have a tough trip to Preston. It's still anybody's guess who will join Colchester and Scunthorpe into the old Third Division.

City travel to Colchester next Saturday to face a side now certain to be relegated.

They are playing for pride however and comprehensively beat East Anglian neighbours Ipswich 2-0 last Saturday.

City fans should beware however as the Sky Blues do not have a good record at Layer Road.

They have failed to win in their last nine visits stretching back to 1954-55 season when a solitary goal from Tommy Capel gave City a 1-0 victory.

Since then they have picked up three draws and lost the other six games, including a 2-1 loss in the 1964 Third Division championship season and an embarrassing FA Cup defeat in 2004.

IT IS with deep sadness that I have to report the death at the age of 99 of Jack Barnes, who played for City between 1927-29.

Jack was the oldest living former professional footballer in the country when he passed away just four weeks before his 100th birthday.

Jack was born in Atherstone on April 28, 1908 and spent most of his life working down a local mine.

City spotted him playing for Atherstone Town and in February 1928 the nippy left winger was given his first-team chance following a disastrous 7-0 defeat at Walsall.

Jack played eight successive games - only one of which was a victory - as the Bantams finished 20th out of 22 teams in the Third Division South.

It was a miserable campaign that saw the smallest league crowd in the club's history, only 2,059, watch a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace on a Monday afternoon.

The following season Jack was a regular for the reserves but never did enough to gain a first-team recall and in the summer of 1929 he joined Walsall.

He was a regular for the Saddlers for two seasons and later for Watford, Exeter City and York City.

After retiring with a foot injury he returned to Atherstone and while playing for the local team he improved his already prolific golf skills to such an extent that in 1938 he was on the verge of a professional career.

A young child and a wife who didn't fancy the support role next to a golfer put paid to his hopes of another sporting career.

During the war Jack worked in a munitions factory in Coventry and, after the hostilities, tried numerous occupations including painter/decorator, plumber and working in a tannery, before ending up in the hosiery trade.

He suffered from Alzheimers Disease in his later years and died peacefully in a nursing home near Coleshill.